Back From the Edge

Back From the Edge offers guidance on treating Borderline Personality Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a relative newcomer in the field of diagnosable psychiatric illnesses.

The individual with the disorder and his or her family usually find themselves in need of multiple support systems due to the complexities of the diagnosis.

The symptoms of BPD can occur in a variety of combinations, and individuals with the disorder have many, if not all of the following traits: fears of abandonment, extreme mood swings, difficulty in relationships, unstable self-image, difficulty managing emotions, impulsive behavior, self-injuring acts, suicidal ideation, transient psychotic episodes.

38 Comments / User Reviews

Seriously, anyone that has had someone with BPD in their life doesn't doubt that this is a real disorder. This is not just about "being a prick" in general, although a lot of the behavior can feel that way.

But what makes clear that it is a mental disorder is the self-defeating irrationality of it all. People doing things that make their lives worse and worse over and over again, or even in the moment doing things that make absolutely no sense. Mystifying, over-the-top emotional impulses that just don't hold up as "bad intentions" or "being mean."

It's not just "I'm mad at you and I'm gonna yell a lot." It's "you put on your blue tie instead of your red tie today, and that means that I was right when I suspected that you were plotting with our entire family to destroy me, just like you did the last time around when you put two squirts of ketchup on your plate instead of one, and for that reason I'm going to bang myself over the head with this frying pan until I pass out, even though it hurts and I don't want to, OW, OW, OW, OW, OWGGGGggg..." and then when they wake up in the hospital they say "Oh my god, you really were plotting against me or you would have stopped me from giving myself a concussion with that frying pan, I knew it, I knew it, BLUE TIE, BLUE TIE, GET THESE NURSES AWAY FROM ME THEY ALL HATE ME AND WANT TO KILL ME! AAAAAAA"

Borderline is no joke. And anyone that says it's just about "being mean" or "being a prick" should be thankful that they have never been exposed to it, because it will make your head swim. If you doubt borderline, it's because you've never seen borderline.

If you have to live with it day-to-day, you know it means that (1) you can't predict what your loved ones are going to do—not "when they are mad"—but in general; they do stuff with shocking rapidity and intensity that makes absolutely no sense and is often very dangerous, (2) you know that YOU and your other family members are not safe because even if they don't do intentionally harmful things toward you, just the emotional roller coaster may mean that (for example) they run you over with the car because they are so out of it in wild emotionality that they hop in suddenly in a panicked rage, then drive backward at 60 miles an hour out of the driveway while they can't see, because rather than sitting up they are laying down across the seats balling and frantically trying to rummage around in their purse on the floor for something to harm themselves with, and (3) getting them into treatment or even helping them to modify their behavior is terrifying because even the slightest hint that anything they've done may have hurt or scared you might just send them over the edge to suicide or worse. And you know they don't want to die because in between the times when they utterly, mystifyingly, suddenly go over the edge into random bizarreness, they are kind, lovable, helpful people that anyone would like to be around and they want very much to live.

It is a terrible disorder, and anyone here that is trying to minimize or dismiss it simply has never seen it.

Unless you have this condition it is unfair for any of you to trash the validity of someone else's very real emotions by saying this doesn't exist. I, for one felt so relieved as soon as I stumbled upon BPD info by chance that I wasn't going completely mad and other people felt this too. A majority of people with BPD have suffered trauma and abuse and to disregard their feelings is callous. Maybe those people need a diagnosis of some kind of psychopathic disorder if they cannot relate to other's emotional state. Or if over diagnosis is the problem then the only explanation if they're just cold hearted, nasty people. Take your pick, folks.

Off topic I know, but how are you doing? have not heard from you in ages, how are your maths coming? will delete this later.

Epicurean_Logic
- 04/21/2013 at 21:48

Very well Razor_Mod (nice gig buddy).... Im teaching now. Soooo busy making sure my little angels are learning. Still check in every so often to see whats goin' on.

Feel free to erase this too.

oQ
- 04/15/2013 at 07:55

I was just talking about you a couple days ago.
1i

Epicurean_Logic
- 04/21/2013 at 21:49

Cool.

Reiver
- 04/11/2013 at 00:36

Adam Young You say that, and I quote

"the quest of freedom ultimately results in freedom from responsibility"

Forgive me but this seems to me a misunderstanding. You appear to see Freedom as a purely ego driven desire for unconscious self determination that takes no account of anyone or anything else. As if to be free requires some kind of abandonment of all social or emotional ties the ultimate aim of which is to render us all as entirely separate from each other in such a way as to allow us to simply please our personal whims and desires, come what may. This, to me, seems a fairly mean definition of freedom. It implies that my freedom to be and do as I choose should take no account of your freedom to be and do as you choose and as such can only lead to conflict, which, it would seem to me is a huge restriction to freedom. Freedom for me, in it's truest sense, implies freedom for you and everyone else as well and as such implies a great deal of responsibility: namely that if I choose the road to freedom for myself I must also choose it for all others and behave accordingly. In short I believe that one cannot be truly free until one accepts one's responsibility for both oneself and everyone else's freedom as well. In this way Freedom is man's greatest dream and his greatest burden.

Ayn Rand wrote many books (that conservatives keep right next to the bible and the Constitution) that disagrees with you completely. The neo-cons believe Charity is a trap. And that love of ones neighbor is a serious mistake.

bumpercrop
- 04/08/2013 at 18:39

Want to read how the DSM (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) was substantially revised and manipulated into the present day trend of over-diagnosis for mental illness and then manipulated by greedy pharmaceutical companies? Read this book of useful information: "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson. Enlightening, funny, frightening.

In case anyone is not aware of the presidents plan for brain mapping,I believe that we better be alarmed when children's brains are being probed and possibly changed.Hitler's doctors experimented with the brains of prisoners and this should throw up warning signs to parents who trust the governement to play with their childrens brains.The idea of using lasers to correct autism also brings up memories of lobotomies in the past.

It seems that every day the psychs come up with a new term for mental illness.I believe this simply points out that the real mental illnesses are to be found in their field.By coming up with another term,they insure they will be needed by people who see demons behind every rock and feel sure that they have the symptoms.

Psychiatry is NOT a science. Those who practice it (as in try, try again) often admit, themselves, that they haven't a clue what they are talking about (much the same as psychologists). The DSM is a failed attempt to create 'disorders/syndromes' from mostly perfectly 'normal' behaviours and increasingly call them 'chemical imbalances' to make it sound 'scientific'. Doing this enables them to circumnavigate reason and sell drugs or vaccinations. It is vaccination, driven by the Nonsense Tale of the 'Germ' theory that causes problems for those who have had them.

It's funny how you go from saying that psychiatry isn't based in science, to claiming that the "Germ Theory" isn't either. That's what I call one giant leap. You know, you don't have to disregard centuries of medical science not to mention common sense just to be able to call yourself anti-vax. All you have to do is refer to one particular falsified study and people will believe you.

And I don't know about you, but my therapist never once tried to have me vaccinated.

~Oliver B Koslik Esq
- 04/05/2013 at 05:35

If you google BPD DSM 5 you will get the free online pages, that detail the diagnostic criteria in DSM5. org. BDP is listed on page 6 of the Criteria for the Personality Disorders PDF.

IF you diagnose me with an illness, then give me medication that destroys how my brain works then you better be able to prove this... with a test. Not just some a--hole who looks at me and says your crazy. There is no evidence to back up the chemical dependancy argument. ITs all a crock of s*it, they sold our personal normal problems as disease.

I mostly agree with you; but not totally. I think that the diagnoses of mental illness has sky rocketed in the past 10 years - due to commercials by pharmaceutical companies that have somehow brainwashed people into believing that what is actually normal,ordinary emotions; due to stress or just everyday life is not only abnormal - its a disease and can (and MUST) be cured by taking a pill. Its terrible! BUT... I have 5 kids. All of whom have normal personal issues, and one that suffers from this disorder. Let me tell you something; someone who really has this disorder- its quite apparent that the person is not having a plain old ordinary problem like we all have from time to time. It becomes increasingly clear that this is different- that something is very wrong. A person who suffers from this- this goes far and beyond anything that could be considered even close to normal. Its difficult for the person who has it, and its very difficult for the family to deal with. Its constant chaos for everyone involved. So...your statement was a little harsh- because its not ALL a crock of shyt .

wald0
- 04/04/2013 at 16:21

Granted, I was distracted while trying to watch this, 8 week old puppy is chewing up everything in the house and generally causing mayhem wherever she goes, but I never heard any real specifics as far as symptoms. It sounded more like someone just being a pr1ck in general to me. I'll watch it again later, little Jo-Jo's reign of terror can't last much longer, she is usually asleep by now. .

culture is like a river and if that river remains at peace for too long, still and undisturbed from above. just look below the surface and you'll see the sludge build up and soon the water becomes undrinkable. that's our western culture. the quest of freedom ultimately results in freedom from responsibility. to eat the whole pie and not have to explain or apologize to the hungry. and we wonder why these disorders show up.

having spent 8 years in higher study to gain your prestigious position, how interested would such a one be in a pill that is said to cure, hence eliminate the very conditions that you depend upon for your livelihood ? and how far would organizations of like minded peers go to prevent such personal professional threats from ever being released to the public ?

About 25 years ago, I was tentatively diagnosed with this disorder, back when (I take it) a lot less was understood about it. I'm gonna have to check this out and see if any of it rings true with the way I was then. Personally, I suspect a lot of whatever difficulties I had were due to fairly serious substance-abuse (as a cause, not a symptom), but what the hell do I know?